Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Time to get serious

I'm almost done with Thomas Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded" book and it's eye-opening to say the least. Anyone who's interested in understanding the impact of population growth, policy-making and our Western lifestyle on the environment -- past, present and future -- will get a lot out of this easy read.

I say "easy read" because he writes for everyman, with a tad too much repetition. But this is what makes it easy to pick up, put down and pick up again without feeling lost. He is well-read and researched and seems to reference all the right people when making his case.

The first half of the book is downright scary, but the second half tells us how to fix things. Yes, there is still hope, though time is ticking. If you can figure out a way to create cheap, abundant, clean, transportable electrons (energy), you could be fabulously wealthy (and save the world as we know it, if that matters any to you).

I'm not exactly a scientist, but my mind is working on the problem, so who knows. Better than buying a lottery ticket and with exponentially more upside.